• Latest
  • Trending
  • All
  • News
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Lifestyle
WHO to probe ‘sexual exploitation’ by aid workers in DR Congo

WHO to probe ‘sexual exploitation’ by aid workers in DR Congo

September 30, 2020
Deputy Speaker Among asks public to support security agencies in wake of bomb blasts

Speaker Among becomes first victim as US gov’t revokes her visa over anti-homosexuality law

May 29, 2023
Spitting in public is now criminal as Museveni signs assents to five other bills

Spitting in public is now criminal as Museveni signs assents to five other bills

May 29, 2023
Over 2,500 participate in maiden Absa KH3 – 7 Hills run

Over 2,500 participate in maiden Absa KH3 – 7 Hills run

May 29, 2023
Aviation authority tips public relations practitioners on managing crises

Aviation authority tips public relations practitioners on managing crises

May 29, 2023

Police officer on the run after shooting businessman he suspected of eloping with his wife

May 29, 2023
Ministry of Agriculture registers growth, success towards increasing employment, household incomes

Ministry of Agriculture registers growth, success towards increasing employment, household incomes

May 29, 2023
Museveni warns MPs against using own money to solve their constituents problems 

Museveni warns MPs against using own money to solve their constituents problems 

May 29, 2023
MV Palm launched to aid transport needs in Buvuma, Buikwe

MV Palm launched to aid transport needs in Buvuma, Buikwe

May 29, 2023
State drags feet as Minister Nandutu moves to halt Karamoja iron sheet trial over vague law

Minister Nandutu loses bid to halt iron sheets trial

May 29, 2023

Museveni finally assents to Anti-Homosexuality Bill

May 29, 2023
Logo
  • News
    • Politics
    • Business
    • 2021 Elections Watch
      • The Election Podcast
    • Exclusive
    • Investigations
  • Education
  • Security
    • Cyber Security
  • Health
    • Coronavirus outbreak
  • Opinions
    • Columns
      • Parting Shot
      • Two Sides of a Coin
      • Bazanye’s Quick Shots
      • Mable Twegumye Zake’s #BitsOfMe&You
      • But this Year!
      • What Did I Miss?
  • Lifestyle
    • Hatmahz Kitchen
    • Food Hub
    • Let’s Talk About Sex
    • Entertainment
    • Tour & Travel
    • Love Therapist
    • Homes
  • Global
    • Africa
    • Asia
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • The Americas
  • East Africa
    • Kenya
    • Rwanda
    • Tanzania
    • South Sudan
    • DR Congo
    • Ethiopia
    • Sudan
  • Technology
  • Ask the Mechanic
  • Special Reports
    • Kabaka Mutebi’s 25th Coronation Series
    • Focus on Somalia
    • Sino-Africa
    • Uganda at 56
    • Anti-Corruption Fight
    • Age Limit Map
    • Tuve Ku Kaveera
  • Sports
    • Place-It
    • StarTimes Uganda Premier League
    • Bundesliga
    • World Cup
  • Jobs
No Result
View All Result
Logo
No Result
View All Result
Home Global Watch

WHO to probe ‘sexual exploitation’ by aid workers in DR Congo

NP admin by NP admin
September 30, 2020
in Global Watch, News
Reading Time: 121 mins read
0
WHO to probe ‘sexual exploitation’ by aid workers in DR Congo

A woman says she was sexually exploited

The World Health Organization (WHO) has pledged to investigate allegations that aid workers tackling the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo sexually abused and exploited women.

WHO and other aid agency staff were accused by 50 women in a joint investigation by two news agencies.

Local women were allegedly plied with drinks, “ambushed” in hospitals, forced to have sex, and two became pregnant.

The allegations cover the period between 2018 and March this year.

The New Humanitarian news agency and the Thomson Reuters Foundation have carried out an almost year-long investigation.

The WHO said the allegations would be “robustly investigated”.

“Anyone identified as being involved will be held to account and face serious consequences, including immediate dismissal,” it said in a statement.

“The betrayal of people in the communities we serve is reprehensible.”

More than 2,000 people died in the Ebola outbreak in DR Congo.

The WHO, which spearheaded global efforts to curb the spread of the outbreak, declared it over in June this year.

The UN and aid agencies have previously promised zero tolerance of sexual abuse following similar allegations against some of their staff in other countries.

A spokesperson for the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said it would scrutinise the WHO findings closely, adding: “Sexual exploitation and abuse are completely abhorrent. We regularly assess all of our partners against the highest safeguarding standards.”

Who does the investigation implicate the most?

Most of the allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation were against men, including doctors, said to be from the WHO. At least 30 women made allegations against them, the news agencies reported.

The next highest number of allegations – made by eight women – were against men said to be from DR Congo’s health ministry.

Two other UN agencies, and four international charities, were also named in the report.

_114688485_mediaitem114688484.jpg

THOMSON REUTERS FOUNDATION

The Ebola outbreak badly affected eastern DR Congo

Some of the accused men came from Belgium, Burkina Faso, Canada, France, Guinea-Conakry and Ivory Coast.

Many men refused to wear condoms, and at least two women said they became pregnant as a result of the abuse, the news agencies reported.

What else did the women say?

A 25-year-old cleaner was quoted as saying that she was invited to a WHO doctor’s home to discuss a promotion.

“He shut the door and told me: ‘There’s a condition. We need to have sex right now’,” the woman said.

“He started to take my clothes off me. I stepped back but he forced himself against me and kept pulling off my clothes. I started crying and told him to stop… He didn’t stop. So I opened the door and ran out.”

_108550944_ebolaepa1.jpg

Ebola killed more than 2,000 people in DR Congo

In another case, a 32-year-old Ebola survivor told the news agencies that she was invited to a hotel for counselling.

In the lobby, she was offered a soft drink. She said she woke up hours later, naked and alone in a hotel room, and believes she was raped.

Why were the women exploited?

Many women said they were forced to have sex in exchange for jobs, with one describing it as a “passport to employment” and another said “they hire you with eyeballs”.

Women said they were approached outside supermarkets in the eastern city of Beni, job recruitment centres, and hospitals where lists of successful candidates were posted.

The news agencies also quoted one woman as saying that “the practice of men demanding sex had become so common that it was the only way to get a job”.

_105894347_grey_line-nc.png

A risk of huge reputational damage

Analysis by Imogen Foulkes, BBC News, Geneva

The WHO has spent this year fighting the Covid-19 pandemic, amid open hostility from the US, which has announced it will leave over allegations the WHO is too close to China. Now come these serious accusations.

The potential reputational damage is huge and the WHO has responded quickly, promising an immediate investigation.

It is more than two years since humanitarian aid agencies faced up to their own “Me Too” moment, when reports of sexual exploitation implicating Oxfam workers in Haiti soon spread to include multiple agencies.

All of them, including the WHO, pledged zero tolerance for such abuse, more rigorous training for staff and proper reporting systems for victims.

Given the allegations from DR Congo, it does not appear that either the staff training or the reporting system worked.

Up until now criticism of the WHO has been mainly from the US, and the organisation has been comforted by support, both moral and financial, from many other countries.

That support may now be shaken, just at the moment the world needs a global public health body beyond reproach.

Source: BBC 

 

 

Tags: illegal sexrapesexsexual exploitationWHO abuses
ShareTweetSend
Previous Post

CAA releases Covid-19 guidelines to be followed as Entebbe Airport reopens

Next Post

Zimbabwe: Elephants die from ‘bacterial disease’

NP admin

NP admin

Related Posts

Deputy Speaker Among asks public to support security agencies in wake of bomb blasts

Speaker Among becomes first victim as US gov’t revokes her visa over anti-homosexuality law

by Kenneth Kazibwe
May 29, 2023
0

The United States government has revoked the visa for Speaker to Parliament, Anita Among over the passing and subsequent passing...

Spitting in public is now criminal as Museveni signs assents to five other bills

Spitting in public is now criminal as Museveni signs assents to five other bills

by Kenneth Kazibwe
May 29, 2023
0

President Museveni has apart from the Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2023 signed five other bills into law, State House has said. In...

Aviation authority tips public relations practitioners on managing crises

Aviation authority tips public relations practitioners on managing crises

by Kenneth Kazibwe
May 29, 2023
0

Members of the Public Relations Association of Uganda(PRAU) have visited Entebbe International Airport in a bid to benchmark best practices...

Police officer on the run after shooting businessman he suspected of eloping with his wife

by Kenneth Kazibwe
May 29, 2023
0

Police have started a manhunt for one of their own who shot at a businessman whom he suspected of having...

Next Post
Botswana issues elephant hunting licenses, first since 2014

Zimbabwe: Elephants die from 'bacterial disease'

ADVERTISEMENT
Plugin Install : Widget Tab Post needs JNews - View Counter to be installed
  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest
Deputy Speaker Among asks public to support security agencies in wake of bomb blasts

Speaker Among becomes first victim as US gov’t revokes her visa over anti-homosexuality law

May 29, 2023
Spitting in public is now criminal as Museveni signs assents to five other bills

Spitting in public is now criminal as Museveni signs assents to five other bills

May 29, 2023
Over 2,500 participate in maiden Absa KH3 – 7 Hills run

Over 2,500 participate in maiden Absa KH3 – 7 Hills run

May 29, 2023
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Careers
Call us: +256-417-720-101
Email: [email protected]

© 2020 Nile Post Uganda Ltd. - A Next Media Services Company.

No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Politics
    • Business
    • 2021 Elections Watch
      • The Election Podcast
    • Exclusive
    • Investigations
  • Education
  • Security
    • Cyber Security
  • Health
    • Coronavirus outbreak
  • Opinions
    • Columns
      • Parting Shot
      • Two Sides of a Coin
      • Bazanye’s Quick Shots
      • Mable Twegumye Zake’s #BitsOfMe&You
      • But this Year!
      • What Did I Miss?
  • Lifestyle
    • Hatmahz Kitchen
    • Food Hub
    • Let’s Talk About Sex
    • Entertainment
    • Tour & Travel
    • Love Therapist
    • Homes
  • Global
    • Africa
    • Asia
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • The Americas
  • East Africa
    • Kenya
    • Rwanda
    • Tanzania
    • South Sudan
    • DR Congo
    • Ethiopia
    • Sudan
  • Technology
  • Ask the Mechanic
  • Special Reports
    • Kabaka Mutebi’s 25th Coronation Series
    • Focus on Somalia
    • Sino-Africa
    • Uganda at 56
    • Anti-Corruption Fight
    • Age Limit Map
    • Tuve Ku Kaveera
  • Sports
    • Place-It
    • StarTimes Uganda Premier League
    • Bundesliga
    • World Cup
  • Jobs

© 2020 Nile Post Uganda Ltd. - A Next Media Services Company.